Jamie Nye: Ed Hervey is a great example for CFL execs

Friday’s news of Ed Hervey being fired in Edmonton came as quite a shock.

Hervey was a successful general manager. The team improved, won a Grey Cup and the talent was there.

Their president’s statement that winning the Grey Cup wasn’t enough for Ed Hervey to keep his job was even more telling.

Hervey got fired for accessibility. That’s what it seemed to boil down to. The team was having a harder and harder time selling tickets, seeing attendance drop in their post-Grey Cup Championship season.

This wasn’t only about media accessibility. It was about community access as Ed Hervey pulled back on how much fans were able to connect to their players.

Then there was the embarrassment of the live mic incident on TSN. A public spat between the league, the broadcaster and one team. While Jason Maas and Mike Reilly came across badly, Ed Hervey’s philosophy led to this debacle.

So Hervey’s out of work.

Let that be a lesson to all around the CFL who want to resist league initiatives to help grow the game, viewership and attendance – there’s the door.